an old writer and his words

  • HOGAN’S HAIR’S-BREADTH

    What is it you are looking for,what you expect to findand how will you knowif you find it? You expected your teacherto present it to you? What would you do with itif you did receive it? You must first see that youare both the searcherand the teacher andyou already havewhat you are searching for,for you…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNA PENDING

    From the heart of the nightthe moon appeared, or a smallcrescent of it, coy this nightas she is on a regular basis. She hinted at her fullness,but we knew that was stilldays off, the moon keptto a rigid schedule always. But her reticence this nightinvited the stars to takethe stage, some we rarely seewhether hiding…

    Lou Faber

  • STARS

    Once the winter starswrapped in their cloudy shroudshed frozen tears, unwillingto come out of hiding.We searched for them in vain,knowing our failure,retreating to the warmthof home, only to repeatthe failed effort on somany other nights. Now, here, the winter starsare usually fearless,some drowned by the moon,but she waxes and wanesand they reappear, the brightestnever fearing…

    Lou Faber

  • HE/HIM

    When he says he thinksthat it is rather queer,you wonder if he uses queeras a non-gendered pronoun,and if so you think hemight just be right. But what if he is a verballuddite, locked in an archaiclexicon, unable to dealwith an ever more complexsocial and sexual worldwhere what was is, and whatnever was is, and who…

    Lou Faber

  • A DECIMAL SYSTEM

    So, if I have it right, Godmanaged to come up with tenplagues for Moses to visiton Pharaoh, although at the timeMoses probably could notunderstand why it was ten,since God was boundlesslycreative, or so He told Moses. Maybe it dawned on Moseswhen wandering in the desertthat ten was a convenient number,after all, he only gave Mosesten…

    Lou Faber

  • ONLY ONE LEFT FOOT AFTER ALL

    We took private dance lessons,she already versed in the dance,a natural grace and flow, and Imoving with seemingly fused hips,unsteady, bordering on clumsy. As we went on, it began to cometo me, never graceful, but no longerembarassing to myself nor her,and the teacher said I could bea natural, a kind and gentle lie. At our…

    Lou Faber

  • OH, HELL

    You say that I am an apostate,hell bent, hell bound, soon to meetthe hell hound awaiting my arrival. You have condemned me for thoughtsthat deviate from your own, youare the guardians of the Word, you say, although whose words you guard is everharder and harder to discern, certainlynot those of He who died for saying…

    Lou Faber

  • MAYOKU THUMPS HIS STAFF

    If as you walkalong the wayyou come acrossa small bird’s nestfallen to the groundits eggs intact,you place itback on the branchwithout a thought. If as you walk onand come acrossanother small bird’s nestfallen to the groundits eggs intactyou place itback on the branchbecause it pleases you. One right thoughtand right action,one wrong thoughtand wrong action,how…

    Lou Faber

  • LOOKING FOR WORDS

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps so, but many pictures don’t travel in verbose company, and there are pictures worth far, far less, although some will search until the magic thousand are found. In Japan a story can be told in seventeen syllables, a picture painted with a single brushstroke. In…

    Lou Faber

  • REAR VIEW MIND

    I spent too much time lookingbackward, looking into the past,looking into the mirrorto frame a dream historyof my desires and fears.He called one morning, lefta message, “Mother died,more details will follow.”A mother his by birth,mine by legal act.I should have felt stunnedanger, I said quietly to myselfhe’s cocky, has issues, and wentabout momentary mourning.That is…

    Lou Faber